Wednesday, February 13, 2013

Three Really Cool Things

As you may or may not remember, I have a children's book coming out soon. I can now give you some more details: my book "The Zebra Said Shh" will come out on March 5. It will be available as an eBook from Amazon, Barnes and Noble, or Apple and also as a physical book, which you can order from Amazon. I think it may also be available in some physical bookstores, but I don't have those details yet. (And if you are involved in purchasing books for a bookstore and are interested... let me know, and I'll put you in contact with my publisher!)

I've seen the proofs for both the eBook and hard copy versions, and they look great. Tamia Sheldon, the illustrator, did a great job, and the illustrations are just awesome. Here is the eBook cover art, as an example of how great the illustrations look:



I won't lie- it is pretty cool to see my story with these wonderful illustrations. And the coolest thing is that I'll be able to get a copy in time to surprise Pumpkin for her birthday (which is in early April). So anyway, I am pretty excited. That is really cool thing #1.

But I am also excited to finally announce that I have another book coming out soon. This one is for grown ups. It is a short eBook about productivity called "Taming the Work Week: Work Smarter Not Longer." It had its genesis in some of the blog posts I've written here (such as the work limit post or my post about a project manager's view on long hours), but when I started working on the eBook, I realized that I needed to write more, so there is a lot of new stuff in there, too. It will be out in April, and I'll definitely give you more details as I get them. I feel strongly that we're developing a counterproductive and unhealthy culture about work in this country, as we brag about the number of hours we work without regard to whether or not those hours were actually productive. It is exciting to have an eBook about this topic coming out. So that is really cool thing #2.

And finally, really cool thing #3: I needed a picture for the "about the author" pages and the like. At first, I was really stuck trying to figure out what to do about that. I want to be able to discuss the books here on my blog, and I am not ready to associate this blog with a picture of me- or at least not one showing my face. I also suspected that a picture of clouds in the sky with the hint of me in the corner wouldn't fly as an author picture. But then the answer came to me. I need an avatar! I turned to Brenda Ponnay, whose Secret Agent Josephine books my kids and I had enjoyed so much, and she made me a great avatar:

Would you buy a book from this woman?
So there you have it. If you meet me in TuneTown, you'll be able to recognize me!

And that is enough cool things from me. What cool things are going on in your life these days?

19 comments:

  1. Now that's some really cool news! I can't share details on here unfortunately but we had a really big week at work which was neat.

    And I've launched a little side project for fun as well. Nothing neat like a book but just something that can actually be shared with people in my offline life if they were interested.

    That's all rather vague but ... such is the life of an pseudonymous blogger! :)

    ReplyDelete
  2. That is so great, Cloud!! Can't wait for both books. And I'm totally going to count your ebook as PMP Continuing Ed credits :)

    ReplyDelete
  3. Congrats on all three! I'm excited to read both books.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Anonymous5:06 AM

    Very awesome!

    ReplyDelete
  5. All super cool! Congratulations, especially on the books! It's wonderful to see creative success like this.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Congratulations! What wonderful news!

    ReplyDelete
  7. Whoa! COngrats Cloud! Looking forward to both books!

    ReplyDelete
  8. mary d9:47 AM

    Congratulations! How exciting!!

    ReplyDelete
  9. Excellent on all counts! I totally knew it was you! :)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. My kids recognized the drawing, too. But I'm not sure you could go the other way- i.e., recognize me from the drawing. Maybe you could, though, I don't know!

      Delete
  10. Congrats! So I guess you decided to out most of your real name on the blog, if not your photo... Looking forward to both books.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I will neither confirm nor deny that the name on the book is related to my real name. :)

      Delete
  11. Big, big congratulations!!!

    ReplyDelete
  12. Felicidades! I look forward to both. :)

    ReplyDelete
  13. Congrats! I remember you mentioning a long time ago that you'd like to write a book, Im so happy you did it! Love the avatar!

    ReplyDelete
  14. That's fantastic!! Congratulations

    ReplyDelete
  15. Can't wait to check out your book. Love the cover and your avatar, too!

    ReplyDelete
  16. Big, giant congratulations! The book looks awesome, the adult book sounds amazing, and that is a wonderful illustration of you!

    ReplyDelete

Sorry for the CAPTCHA, folks. The spammers were stealing too much of my time.